


Blue To Green To Blue- Please Don't Be Blue

by Lady_Of_Paper_7



Series: Blue To Green To Blue [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-11-15 13:47:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11232264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Of_Paper_7/pseuds/Lady_Of_Paper_7
Summary: „You know“, Tony Stark said whilst taking a step backwards, his thumb under his chin and index finger stroking his goatee as he surveyed the glass-cellar in front of him like an especially exhausting piece of modern art, “one of these days your face’s gonna set that way."





	1. A carbon compound in other words.

"You know“, Tony Stark said whilst taking a step backwards, his thumb under his chin and index finger stroking his goatee as he surveyed the glass-cellar in front of him like an especially exhausting piece of modern art, “one of these days your face’s gonna set that way”

It didn’t surprise him, that he didn’t get an answer. The god of mischief not even blinking but continuing to glare straight ahead, jaw set and posture a straight line, same as it had been for the past week or so, however concerned him slightly; Was it normal for gods to more or less turn into statues when they were sulking?

Although ‘sulking’ probably wasn’t exactly the right word to describe a quite possibly insane demigod who’d just attempted to take over the world.

“Would be a shame really, ‘s all I’m saying”, Tony eventually shrugged before he retreated, “with a pretty face like that”, back to the improvised lab, set up at the other side of the huge hall deep within the belly of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most secret hideouts. Officially, not even he or Bruce, who worked with him on trying to make sense of the data that had been collected ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken hold of the tesseract, had a clue where exactly they were but, oh well, _officially_ there were a lot of things Tony had no idea about.

“You know, we’re not supposed to interact with him”, Bruce greeted him without looking up, “’specially since we can see him from literally seven different angles from here”, he pointed his screwdriver at several desktops, which all showed various simultaneous live recordings of the god, “and you should stop hitting on haywire demigods anyway”

“What, you’re gonna go tell Fury?”

“Do I look that stupid?”

“Honest answer?”, Tony cocked his head to the side, batting his lashes - mockingly, as far as Bruce was willing to let himself think; “Oh look, they’re bringing the stuff”

“You know, some people actually try to- oh, they’re bringing the stuff”, Tony heaved himself onto the workbench behind him as a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agents carried several various sized boxes, one them especially huge, in.

“Where should we put these?”, Phil asked, only taking his eyes off of the clipboard he was carrying for the of briefest of moments, “careful, watch that!”, he finally abandoned said clipboard as the most tired looking agent stumbled over one of the various notebooks, spare parts and wheels, knocked into the others and the whole setup ended with the majority of the boxes cluttering to the floor.

“I was gonna say anywhere but right there’s just as good”, Tony slid back off of the bench and started going through the mess of cracked boxes and stuff they’d contained a couple of minutes ago, “seriously, we’ll manage just fine, Coulson”

“Alright then”, Phil sighed around the palm that was covering most of his face as the others hurriedly left that part of the hall in favor for making for the elevator again, “next time some demigod-lunatic tries to take over this city, I need more experienced people to clean up afterwards.”

“Harsh”, Tony commented as Coulson too fled the room, kicking against a heap of sheets; there was a clunking sound.

“What’s that?”, Bruce finally set down his screwdriver, shuffling over to him, and helped him shift through the mess until they’d come across Loki’s scepter, “Wanna start with that?”

“Might as well”, Tony shrugged and gingerly lifted the staff onto the work bench, wiping his hand off on his shirt, the second he’d set it down, “You don’t really believe that whole lunatic-thing either, right?”

“What do you mean by ‘believe’?”, Bruce asked absently whilst putting on his glasses and adjusting one of the overhead lights to have a better look at the scepter, “he’s right over there”

“You know what I mean, Banner”, Tony let the tips of his fingers glide above a selection of tiny screwdrivers and other, equally tiny metal instruments, deciding on how they were going to examine that dreadful piece of gold and crystal.

“What, your whole mind-control/possession- theory again? Just because he threw you out of a window instead of just snapping your neck? We went over that like a billion times by now”, he wanted to say more but one of the monitors had been giving a series of beeping noises for the last couple of minutes and not only did they not die down but also became increasingly louder and more annoying by the second, “what exactly is that?”

When Loki had first sat foot into these rooms or more particularly his cell – being gagged, blindfolded and shackled – he’d taken one slow prance around the small, circular room and then had taken his spot directly in the middle of the brightly lit cell, facing one of the cameras – and most importantly the whole area directly in front of the glass-barrier that kept him sealed off. Since then he had neither uttered a word, moved from his spot nor had moved a single muscle or even blinked.

That had been almost a week ago and after the first days Tony had stopped being fascinated by his behavior – the god wasn’t exactly hard to look at either - but had started being put off. So much in fact, that he’d written a program for the system of the computers which showed the recordings of the trickster’s cell that would alert him once Loki as much as shifted his weight. Which was apparently what had happened now although, when Tony checked on the recordings, there was no sign of it.

“What the hell…”, he muttered , fingers flying above the keyboards while he continued to ignore Bruce.

“Try the recording from a couple of minutes ago”

“What do you think, I’ve been doing? There’s nothing”

“Slow it down then?”

“…that’s actually a good idea”, Tony acknowledged without taking his eyes off the screen; going through the slowed down recording from a couple of minutes ago picture by picture, “look at that”

“Do I even wanna know?”, Bruce muttered but did as he was asked and too concentrated on the pictures, “wait a second; is he flinching?”

“No, I don’t think so, he’s-“, Tony started, rewinding the about 3 seconds of video again and setting it on a loop: it first showed the god in his ‘original’ posture until there was a green flash and some kind of tremor seemed to go through him; his bearing crumbling from stiff to hunched over, his hands jerking up from where they’d been hanging at his sides halfway until they seemed to be forcefully pushed down again.

The most unsettling thing however was the change that went about his face whose stern, hard expression from the past days appeared to be outright wiped from it, making way for another, quiet different look; his skin seemed not only to pale even further but to gain an unhealthy, grayish tinge and what looked like several scars or burns that covered a good piece of the left side of his face seemed to spread from his hairline, the color of his eyes changed from that cold steel-blue to a deep emerald green, dark, purple rings blooming beneath them.

There was no room for the god’s previous cold sneer anymore; all that was left were wide, horrified eyes and thin pale lips opening up in a gasp halfway before his expression too seemed to violently snap back to what it had looked like a second before.

“What the hell”, both avengers muttered at the recording as they watched the change – to and fro - over and over again.

“When exactly did that happen? There has to have been a trigger”, Bruce finally said, fist beneath his chin while Tony adjusted the loop to only repeat one second before Loki’s behavior changed and one after and scribbled the time displayed in the bottom right corner of the recording. 11: 17p.m. on the dot, the whole thing had lasted about 4 seconds in total.

“That’s about the time, they brought in the boxes. Maybe that… startled him?”, he then suggested although he didn’t really believe that himself; countless men and women had entered and left the premises this week so why should this team make a difference? Tony pressed the backs of his knuckles against his lids; his brain was going slow with exhaustion caused from the last days having spent almost every second working and close to none sleeping.

“No, that was around 11:15, I looked at the clock. Why would he react two minutes late?”

“Then it had to be them dropping the stuff”, Tony, switched over to another screen, this time putting the recording of the whole hall onto it, “look; it’s exactly the same time.”

“Do we have a list of everything those boxes contained?”, Bruce crouched down amidst the mess on the floor once more, shifting through a some of the papers until he’d produced the list he’d been searching for.

“What do we have?”

“More data from the tesseract, files of the people that were under his control at some point, most of Loki’s personal belongings, including scepter and helmet”

“I got an idea”, Tony picked up the scepter once more, reached for a tiny screwdriver and went over to the cell, Bruce trailing after him, so they stood right in front of the god, “keep your eyes on him”, he told him whilst examining the staff more closely, carefully positioning the screwdriver in between the still gleaming blue crystal and one arm of its golden socket, “is anything happening?”

“Nothing. You’re sure- ”

“Now?”, Tony asked, wrenching the screwdriver into the space, turning it to the side as he did so.

“Still- wait, look!”

In other circumstances, Tony might have scoffed at the doctor’s shocked voice but right now, he simply tightened his grip around both, spear and tool, and too gazed over just in time to see a familiar greenish shimmer vanish, leaving the same, gaunt figure of the trickster as before.

Only this time, his appearance did not change back at once, his posture did not immediately snap up again but he outright collapsed; green eyes unfocused and flickering as he crouched on the hard floor, arms shaking as he supported himself, breathing heavily. The blood dripping from his lips down onto the white tiles as he tried to speak but merely coughed, did not look much brighter there than the trails they left on Loki’s unnaturally pale skin, even more so with a hand full of pitch black streaks that had come loose tumbling forward and now hung partly in front of his face.

“Holy-”, Bruce muttered, hurrying forwards until he came to a hold with his palms pressed against the glass, “We need to get in there”

Tony was about to say something but the second he opened his mouth, the screwdriver slipped off the gold-socket and the next second the god was pushing himself back to his feet. But this time – despite him no longer looking like a walking corpse - he moved slowly, deliberate, almost tantalizing and even going as far as stretching his arms over his head as he stretched his back; “ _Oh, please_ get in here _, we certainly wouldn’t mind_ ”, he drawled, shooting the two avengers a lazy grin, blood still shining on his lips.

“And you are?”, Tony raised his eyebrows whilst crossing his arms, scepter still in hand.

“ _Loki_ ”, the god full on grinned, “ _of Asgard_ ”, he added dramatically, touching the tips of his fingers to his chest and bowing his head.

“No, no, no”, Tony shook his head, “you’re _controlling_ him – you’re not _him”_

“ _How would you know? It’s not like you’d even known about him for more than a couple of days_ ”, the trickster sauntered forwards until the tips of his bare feet almost touched the line of runes which were painted all around the circular walls of the cell to prohibit him from using his powers against anybody, “ _Why would you care?”_

“…do we really have to have the whole ‘you cannot possess someone and then go try take over a planet’-conversation?”, Bruce too raised his eyebrows, making his way back to stand beside Tony.

“ _Would you accept us answering ‘yes, we can’, mortal?”_

“Mhm…no, I don’t think, we would”, Tony squinted at him, pursing his lips, “Let go of him and then we can talk face to face–I’m speaking to the Chitauri, am I not?”

“ _Do you really think_ ”, Loki sneered, not agreeing with Tony but also not disagreeing and his face suddenly no longer looking like his own face at all, “ _we would have chosen this pathetic creature instead of coming here ourselves if we’d had an alternative?_ ”

“Well”, Tony silently cleared his throat, tightening his grip around the screwdriver he still had in one hand, “I don’t know if I’d call the most ridiculously overpowered demigod who’s walked this earth ‘pathetic creature’ but whatever”

“ _Do you want to know, how he even came to our world? He assumed his fall from the bifrost would kill him but he just about survived that_ ”, the god scoffed, shaking his head dismissively and starting to pace up and down the length of his cell, “ _and guess what he did when our men found him, lying there, body broken by its collision with the ground? He begged them to cut his throat. So much power and obvious will to live and he begs for an executio_ n”, he almost sighed, pretending to examine his once again flawless nails, ” _Took us almost five months to persuade him to work with us without making a fuss. Such a waste of time and, well. Luckily frost giants aren’t that great at dealing with fire_ ”

“You goddamn-“, Tony gritted his teeth, his mind racing desperately, trying to find a solution and winding up with nothing in his sleep deprived state.

“And what exactly are your plans now?”, Bruce finally asked, plucking the scepter from Tony’s grip and drumming the tips of his fingers across its length, “staying in there forever?”

“ _We_ could _do that, of course_ ”, the trickster nodded with a mocking smile, “ _but we don’t think, that that’s what’s going to happen_ ”

“And what _do_ you think _is_ going to happen?”, taking a deep breath, Tony balled his fist as tight as he could, his nails cutting half-moons into his palms and glared back into those bright blue eyes.

“ _Oh_ ”, placing his hand over his heart as if in shock, Loki cocked his head to the side, eyes big and filled with feigned innocence, “ _you are going to let us – or rather him – go of course_ ”

“Yeah, _of course_ ”

“ _Isn’t it obvious?”,_ Loki batted his lashes.

“No offense, but it really isn’t”

“ _Ooh_ ”, Loki slowly shook his head as he raised his hands and placed them on either side of his jaw and neck, tightening his grip just enough for the skin beneath his fingers to turn white- well even paler – and slowly started turning it to the left, “ _you really don’t_?”, he asked, giving his own neck a sudden jerk, so it twisted as far to the left as it would go, the bones and muscles of his neck clearly protruding through the pale skin.

“Let me get this straight”, Bruce raised his eyebrows, still turning the scepter about in his hands, fingers tapping against the bluish gem, “if we don’t let you go, you’re gonna snap your own neck? I highly doubt that”

“ _Why would you doubt that we’d get rid of a worthless slave? Dead or alive, he’s not much use to us anyway. If you let us go, we might even spare his life, but you should act quickly_ ”

“And why”, Tony took the spear back from Bruce who held it out for him, murmuring a single word out of the corner of his mouth as he did, without taking his eyes off Loki, “would you think, that changed anything? Why should we let a total nutcase, who’s also controlled by even more insane aliens, go? Just so, that he can live and maybe even turn on us again? I don’t think so”, waving the scepter around in an elaborate gesture, the engineer turned his back to the cell and started back towards the little improvised lab, his fingers inconspicuously, gliding up to the weakly gleaming crystal as he walked.

Except it wasn’t a crystal, it was a pale blue diamond.

An otherworldly, giant, special diamond of course, but a diamond nonetheless.

A carbon compound in other words.

Once he’d been able to make out the tiny screws that secured its fastening to the scepter with the tips of his fingers, removing them without the god noticing – especially in his short lived dumbstruck condition – was almost easy. He just hoped Bruce would distract him just a little while longer, until he’d managed to light at least one of the Bunsen burners that were collecting dust near the back of the shelves.

Carbon compounds and fire were, after all, not the best substance and element to mingle.

Behind him, he could hear the doctor picking up his chatter, asking “He’s right, why should we care? As you’ve said; we hadn’t even heard of him until a couple of days ago. Days which he spent trying to take over this world and killing everybody who just happened to have crossed his way”

‘Good thinking’, Tony mused whilst lighting up the burners, his back kept to the others in an attempt to shield their view of the flames. He just hoped, the Chitauri wouldn’t grow tired of the discussion and just go on killing Loki before he’d finished.

Cold sweat was cascading down his back as, finally, three lit burners where pushed together in the middle of the work bench and he carefully removed the bluish diamond from his gold socket, his fingers awkward within the thick glove he’d hurriedly stuffed his fingers into and Loki’s voice – although his voice didn’t really sound like himself anymore – snarling in the background as he finally tossed the jewel into the flames.

For a couple of seconds, he was afraid that he’d been wrong, the stone itself simply sat there balanced on the burners and the god’s voice behind him suddenly fell quiet, as if he’d caught on what he was trying. Then the diamond finally started dissolving and Tony dared turn around.

Loki still wasn’t making a sound but not because he- or rather the Chitauri that were speaking through him - had caught the engineer destroying the scepter that was controlling his mind and had killed him but because his glimmer rapidly dissolved – for good now, hopefully - and left him passing out, his head smacking against the tiles with a nasty sound as he’s knees gave in, then he laid still.

This time, neither Tony nor Bruce did hesitate but ran; Tony towards the entrance of the tiny circular room, or rather towards its first door and Dr. Banner to get his bag. There were two glass doors, one with several scanners attached to it which could only be passed by a certain group of members of S.H.I.E.D. in order for them to open and which had to be completely sealed before the second glass door could be opened by entering three short codes.

By the time, he’d passed every necessary scanner (there was also one, you didn’t have to pass – in fact if you tried to an alarm would be triggered as an additional safety measure), the doctor was at his side again and they hurried through the short glass corridor towards the second door and then into the cell.

“Please tell me he’s still alive”, Tony crouched down beside Bruce who was already kneeling over Loki to have a closer look him, carefully tilting the god’s head so his face was and no longer pressed against the floor but looking up before he bent forward further and put his ear to his mouth and nose to hear whether he was still breathing.

“His breathing’s kinda shallow”, he felt over his sternum and down his ribcage, “I’m afraid that a couple of his rips are broken”, Dr. Banner continued examining the god’s injuries, “and he’s seriously dehydrated, never mind malnourished”, he carefully pulled back his lid to have a look at his pupils, “his skin’s burnt-“, he stopped talking when Loki gave a weak groan but only moved his head to the side again, then carefully finished his quick check-up, “his physical state’s critical but not necessarily life threatening. I’ll have to properly check on him again once we’ve gotten him to sickbay though”

“Can we do that right now?”

“Theoretically”

“ _Theoretically_ ”, Tony echoed with raised eyebrows.

“I’m not sure if it’d be safe, for him or anyone, as long as we don’t know for sure that he’s himself again or that he’s not gonna try take us out as soon as he wakes up but if we leave him here much longer, he’s definitely gonna get worse. Maybe we should call Fury and-“

“Do we still have those handcuffs they put on him before he got here? They did stop him from using his powers”

“That should work”, Bruce agreed after a brief pause, “might as well try it”


	2. "I’d never be able to look at my reflection again. And that, my dear friend, would be the real tragedy here.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Loki finally came to a couple of days later, everybody who was at the hideout at that moment knew at once.

When Loki finally came to a couple of days later everybody who was at the hideout at that moment knew at once. Not because he immediately pulled another scheme or killed everybody who was near the room he was in but because he’d been screaming his lungs out – in multiple languages - for several minutes until someone had managed to wake him up.

Coincidently that someone happened to be Tony who hadn't strayed far from the god’s side since he’d been moved him from his cell to a storage room they’d stocked with medical instruments and a small bed and thus been turned into an improvised sickroom. Bruce, of course, had also kept on regularly checking on the god and the only time, someone other than the two of them had looked after Loki had been shortly after Fury had been told about their little escapade with the Chitauri, which had resulted in the director of S.H.I.E.L.D quite possibly setting a new record for non-stop-shouting.

Since then, Loki’s physical state had improved to a surprising degree, thanks to both, his powers seeping back, and the roughly fifty pounds of painkillers and IV-bags he’d been dosed with. He was looking much better already.

“Hey, _hey_ , you’re okay, we got you”, Tony tried to make himself heard over the god’s cries as he fought to push him back down onto the mattress before he would end up hurting himself, “it’s okay, Loki, calm down”, he continued trying to talk him down in the most soothing voice he was able to manage.

By the time the god had ceased screaming and let himself be eased back against the lumpy pillows, breathing still ragged and green eyes squinting against the harsh light of the ceiling lamp, several other agents had gathered around the door of the tiny room and Thor hurriedly ushered them away. He’d spent as much time as he could at the hideout since Tony had destroyed the scepter that had been controlling his brother but had only once entered the room Loki was sleeping in.

“There you go, everything’s peachy”, Tony very slowly let go of the trickster as not to startle him even more, “you’re safe here, just breathe. You’re gonna feel better, I promise, okay?”

Loki gave a silent chocking sound, his body still trembling, but did take a couple of shaky breaths; his eyes fluttered close as he clutched onto the paper thin sheets.

“You’re still at S.H.I.E.L.D.s.-But you don’t have to worry, we got rid of that scepter of yours and everybody’s having a party cuz you’re back with the living”

“I highly doubt that”, Loki wheezed in a hoarse voice whilst squeezing his lids shut again, a small crease forming between his brows as he weakly coughed; his head fell forwards as if it was too heavy to hold it up properly. The engineer was about to reach out to him and help him sit back up but before he could do so, the god had taken a couple more deep breaths, wincing when he leaned back again.  

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short; I’m happy to see you”, Tony winked and flashed him a grin, “and I’m sure Banner and Tho-Cap don’t mind it either. Never mind- hey, let me see that”, this time, he did very slowly, reach out for Loki’s left arm, “may I?”, he made himself ask and wait for his permission before he touched the god again - he was still restrained by those special Asgardian shackles that tied his wrists and ankles to the bed frame and almost definitely not able to hurt anyone, except maybe himself, “you ripped your IVs – those”, Tony picked up one of the IV lines that had previously been attached to his wrist and showed it to Loki, “out. I’m gonna get the doctor”, he placed the god’s arm back on the mattress, careful to neither touch the places where the needles had been ripped out nor to move his arm around too much in order to prevent the shackles from chafing his already bruised wrists even more. Loki flinched and let his head loll to the side.

“Hey”, he beckoned Thor over once he’d reached the door of the tiny sickroom and leaned against its frame but did not actually leave the room, “get Dr. Banner – no, it’s nothing bad, he just pulled some of his needles out”

“You don’t mind, do ya?”, he asked when he sauntered back towards the god, pulled one of the crappy chairs up next to the bed and let himself collapse against its high back.

“Would it matter if I did?”, the god mumbled, his face still turned into the pillows but Tony could have sworn, he saw the corner of his mouth twitch upwards.

“Of course - my self-esteem would be shattered beyond repair; I’d never be able to look at my reflection again. And that, my dear friend, would be the real tragedy here.”

“I do not mind then”, he coughed again, his face screwing up in pain as he tried to even his breathing.

His skin was still beyond pale but the bruises, cuts, scars and burn marks that stood out against his porcelain skin especially strikingly had already started fading away and a good part of them was also covered up by the god’s pitch black hair that lay around his head, neck and upper shoulders in an unruly mess of dark curls. And even though the baggy grayish shirt and pants he was dressed in still hung off him about three sizes too big he no longer looked like an actual skeleton.

“You’re holding up pretty well, you know”, Tony leaned back further, stretching out his legs with a sigh.

“Healing-abilities. Once the Chi- once the spell was broken, my powers started seeping back. I should be fine within a couple of weeks”, tipping his head back, Loki blinked up at Tony, brows furrowed and teeth clenched, “thank you, by the way”

He didn’t mention that everything would go a lot faster without those dreadful shackles cutting him off from his magic and hurting his skin. The last thing he was planning on doing was throwing some kind of tantrum or anything that required any kind of fast movement or movement in general really, but he had the feeling that no matter what he’d say it wouldn’t make a difference.

The looks he’d gotten from the other S.H.I.E.L.D-agents while he’d still been under the Chitauri’s spell, locked into the glass cell and not been able to move a single muscle on his own accord had been more than enough for him to know what everyone was thinking about him and that they were not the least bit ready to talk to him, never mind trust him in any way after everything he’d done to their city, to their families and friends.

“No problem”, Tony Stark, the man who had somehow managed to not only work out what was happening but had also broken the spell and just kept at trying to prove to his teammates that _something_ was up with the god, was for some reason still grinning at him and didn’t look the least scared of even uncomfortable being near him.

Loki opened his mouth again, about to say something but at that moment Bruce entered the room and he pressed his lips together again, seeming to back away from the doctor as far as he could - which wasn’t very far considering that he still was chained to the bed, never mind hurting all over and just downright exhausted.

“I’ll just have to have a look at that”, he pointed at the god’s arm but didn’t come closer, “if you don’t mind, that is”, he added when Loki continued to glower at him, cradling his arm to his side, “I’m not gonna hurt you”

“I would like to see you try”, Loki gritted, barring his teeth even though his whole body tensed up in pain and he couldn’t suppress the quiet, pain filled groan that passed his pale lips.

“You know, you should really let him patch you up, he did a pretty good job already while you were out”, Tony suggested, raising his eyebrows at Bruce, who mirrored his gaze, “c’mon”

“I’ll be done in five minutes and I’m not gonna bother you afterwards”, the doctor tried again but the only answer he got was another scowl, “seriously, if I wanted to harm you, if anybody did, don’t you think, they’d done it while you were unconscious?”, he added, sleep deprived temper getting the better of him

“Banner”, Tony inconspicuously shook his head while the god wasn’t looking at him; he looked even paler now, his skin almost gray against the cheap white sheets and his eyes pale and wide in fear.

“As if I’d be able to-“, Loki still sneered, pushing himself up but his left arm gave in and he tried to curl up with a silent groan, squeezing his eyes shut and keeping his head down, but was prevented by his restraints. He spat out a couple of guttural sounding words, which neither Avenger was able to understand - yet both of them were pretty sure that he was cursing.

“Well go ahead then, you obviously don’t require my approval”, he eventually muttered darkly, tugging at one of the chains without looking up.

“Loki-“

“Just. Go. Ahead”, he repeated through clenched teeth, his arm trembling from him trying to hold still as Bruce picked up a couple of bandages and antiseptics up before he carefully took his wrist. He flinched every time Bruce touched him or even moved.

“Fury’s gonna want to talk to you later but until then you should rest and eat something”, the doctor kept his voice as neutral as he could as he finished tying the bandage around his wrist, which Loki immediately pulled out of his grasp “you’re fine without the IVs for now but somebody’s gonna get you some food”, he barely finished before he left the room.

“Want me to leave too?”, Tony stretched his back before he crossed his arms behind his head.

“You may stay here”, the god carefully flexed his slender fingers, gaze fixed downwards, but his expression grew softer; the walls behind his eyes seemed to crumble down.

“Oh, _well thank you_ for your permission”, Tony rolled his eyes and stifled a yawn.

“You don’t have to of course”, Loki made a face as he talked to the back of his hand, which was still slightly trembling, in a soft voice but the engineer decided not to say anything about it.

“Just wondering what makes me so special, really”

“You did not break my ribs for example. Or crack my skull”

“I-“, the engineer sat up straighter, carefully eying the god from the side, “I thought, _the other guy_ didn’t have such a big effect on you”

“He had. Believe me”, Loki clarified after shooting him a look.

“But you know Banner isn’t _him_. He’d never willingly hurt anyone whilst being himself”

“I wasn’t ‘myself’ and was still able to sabotage a superbly organized and executed invasion whose risk of failure was about 7, 5 % and to deliver you the tool which enabled the Chitauri to control my mind”

“…well”, Tony cleared his throat, “you kind of freaked all of us out for a couple of days too, before you passed out and Banner saved your life”

“Which only happened because you did not cease telling your team mates that I was being controlled. Not that anyone believed you but… I appreciate the effort”, Loki, whose eyes had been slipping further and further shut while he'd been talking, yawned quietly as he slowly blinked up to the engineer. He knew better than to let his guard down near him – or anyone of the facility – but he was just so exhausted.

“You heard that”

“Having your mind controlled is like being locked into the very last corner your mind while someone else is using your body, not being ignorant to your surroundings”, he barely breathed the last words before he yawned again, louder this time, “I would not expect you to understand”

“Sorry”, Tony responded, a lot more dumbstruck than he was willing to admit, “-wait no, I meant”, he continued, but by the time he’d managed to gather his thoughts, the god’s eyes had slipped shut and his breathing had evened out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope, you'll enjoy this as well, thank you for reading and for your nice comments on the first chapter!


	3. “You really are something, Tony Stark”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You can’t take him home with you”
> 
> “Okay, now it just sounds like we’re talking about a stray dog or something”, Tony draped an arm around Loki’s shoulders and pulled him into his side like a mother would pull her misbehaving child close whilst claiming they were a little angel. The god of mischief rolled his eyes before pointedly looking into the opposite direction of the engineer but didn’t push him off the small bed the two of them were perching on.

“You can’t take him home with you”

“Okay, now it just sounds like we’re talking about a stray dog or something”, Tony draped an arm around Loki’s shoulders and pulled him into his side like a mother would pull her misbehaving child close whilst claiming they were a little angel. The god of mischief rolled his eyes before pointedly looking into the opposite direction of the engineer but didn’t push him off the small bed the two of them were perching on.

Fury raised one brow, “Considering his reputation, I don’t think that’d be a completely unreasonable comparison.”

“I’m not even sure whether I still want to come with you if I think about it”, Loki pointed out but the others ignored him. He didn’t know how he felt about that.

“…and why exactly did you insist on having him-”, at this the god did fix his gaze on Fury - he didn’t care what anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. thought of him, the man who’d played on his beggary without any scruple to his advantage obtain information from him during the last weeks included, but he wouldn’t just have him dismiss his presence like that - and his green eyes seemed on fire with quite rage as he stared at the director, “- _Loki_ present during this conversation anyway?”, Fury asked with a straight face but pronounced his name as if it left a bad taste behind on his tongue and at that moment, Loki decided that he, at some point, would have his revenge on this man that reminded him just a little too much of Odin. He did not decide on when and how he’d make him pay – he’d have to make sure it would not greatly affect Tony Stark’s life and relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. but he would manage that quite easily; if anything, he had time on his hands now.

“Because it’s _Loki_ we’re talking about”

Because Loki would probably not be too happy about Tony not just talking about him behind his back to Fury of all people – which the engineer didn’t intend to do anyway – but also about him trying to force him into a certain direction and decide the matter of him leaving the hideout in favor for staying at the former Stark-tower on his own. The god of mischief’s trust wasn’t something you gained easily and Tony was not willing to complicate things by making Loki think he couldn’t at least try to trust him after all. They had talked about the god moving of course but getting Fury to agree and negotiate the terms with him was a whole different matter still and both of them doubted that it would be an easy negotiation.

“Come on now; he would be safer at the tower, more comfortable and you have no actual reason to keep us from leaving here right this second”

“Besides various charges against the god who tried to take over this goddamn planet”

“There are no direct charges against him left which weren’t invalidated by your… _interrogations_ ”, Tony could feel the god’s posture stiffen beside him and he wasn’t surprised by it; he had been, after all, the one who’d picked up the pieces after said inquiries when the director, who didn’t seem to care the least about the physical or psychological state of a possible fiend, had quiet crudely started questioning Loki since the second time he’d woken up. He had not refrained from twisting the knife in the wound by always referring to his family, the torture he’d endured from the Chitauri and the things he’d done while he’d been controlled, making him look at countless photographs and videos. Those questionings had lasted for hours upon hours and Fury had kept pushing and pushing until the god had finally broken down, spilling everything that had happened during the last year, relevant to the questions or not. Once the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been satisfied with the information he had gained, he’d simply left him a sobbing mess, completely rattled and feverish and Tony had slipped into the room and tried to calm him down until he at least had been able to breathe again. He wasn’t sure whether the trickster would ever forgive him seeing him like that that but things seemed to be alright between them for now.

These events had also not added to the god feeling more comfortable around the hideout and the other members of S.H.I.E.L.D. but had resulted in him having even more trouble sleeping to the point that he just passed out from exhaustion from time to time and his recovery receding to an almost complete halt. Eventually, the engineer had just offered a change of location and the god had agreed. Originally, Bruce had also been supposed to be present during the discussion with Fury to point out that a change of location would really be the best thing for the trickster and anyone else right now but _coincidentally_ , he’d just been send on an unplanned mission with Cap, Natasha and Clint.

“Having a …disturbed demigod running around Manhattan is still a ridiculously irresponsible thing to do”

If Loki’s glare had been wrathful before, now it was downright murderous but he physically bit his tongue and balled his hands into fists in order not to not come at him and just wipe that smug smirk off his lips. Tony had asked him to let him do the talking to the director and normally he’d never agree to let someone decide anything for him but he had to admit that the engineer knew Fury better than him and, especially since the god still wasn’t anywhere near his normal state and abilities, would probably be more success in trying to reason with the director.

“That's why Thor went back to Asgard to get that”, Tony plastered the same bright smile he normally reserved especially for pushy reporters on his lips, the one that was more of a snarl that anything else, as he held up a broad black gyve.

“Which is what I’ll agree on wearing for the time being”, the god gritted through clenched teeth, “it’ll prevent me from using my powers in any way that could cause harm on purpose, I won’t be able to take them off by myself either, you can ask anyone on Asgard”, he clamped his mouth shut again as soon as the words were out.

“Why should you have the opportunity of using your powers at all? Even if I’d believe this without checking your story first, you being able to conjure any kind of magic seems like a chance I don’t really feel like taking”, Fury for the first time spoke to the god directly.

“Because”, the god bared his teeth at him, his eyes tightening to slits as he glared at him – he already started feeling worse again; everything hurt, his head was pounding and he was feeling sick to his stomach but he would not give Fury the satisfaction of asking for a pause, “I won’t have recovered by the end of this year if I don’t have any access to my magic and I slowly but surely tire of feeling like crap”

_Because neither you nor anyone else has the right to cut me off from my powers._

“That is neither my problem nor the problem of this facility”, Fury shrugged and turned to leave, “I’ll think about it but don’t expect anything”

Tony then got to his feet and stepped forward so he stood right between the god who still had a shackle attached to his ankle that tied him to the bed, keeping him there, and the director; “What the hell is your problem?”, he demanded, this close to forcefully turning Fury around so he had to talk to them directly, “you have no reason-“, he’d have continued to yell at him if it hadn’t been for small wince Loki gave when he finally collapsed to the side - he felt almost as bad as he had right after he’d been freed from the Chitauri’s control and there really was no point pretending anymore - which caused the engineer to turn back to, “this is beneath you, Fury, seriously”, he called after him but stayed with the trickster.

“He can’t just keep you here”, he told a very pale Loki as he curled back into the saggy pillows.

“Apparently he can”, the god pointed out darkly, kicking one ankle up so the chain attached to it jingled for emphasis, “I’ve been worse before so don’t worry about it”

“Who said I was worried?”, Tony asked with a weak smile and the god snorted quietly.

“Your face does a pretty good job of giving it away”, Loki pointed out indifferently.

“Maybe I just want to torment him a little, you know, personal stuff”

“Sounds legit”, he finally mirrored Tony’s expression, waving his had as if to dismiss the topic.

“Anyway, at the latest when he needs me for a mission again or something, he won’t have such an easy time dismissing us”, the engineer did change the topic.

“As if you’d actually put off a mission and willingly endanger people”, the god shook his head but didn’t comment on the ‘us’ Tony had used, “even I know you too well for that”

“There’s always so much time you have before it’s too late and he knows that.”

“I don’t think I want you to stall things like that just so you have leverage over Fury”

“Who’s the one who worries too much now?”

“… just do whatever you think’s right”

“Good to know we’re finally on the same page here”, the engineer actually full on grinned at Loki, who merely blinked in return.

“You really are something, Tony Stark”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here'se the Thing; I actually planned to write no more than 4 chapters but some of your comments made me re-think that (this chapter for example hadn't been planned at all and I wrote it just yesterday, I hope you still enjoyed it).  
> I've already figured out the ending for this and I can't promise that I'll manage to add in more chapters in between but please tell me, if you'd enjoy it! 
> 
> I also thought about maybe posting additional chapters after this storylines finished, maybe even from Points of the Story before it ended, once again I'll only do that if you'd like me to, I don't want to confuse anyone by posting some Bonus chapters "out of order" at the end
> 
> I really hope, you still enjoy These, thank you for reading and commenting!
> 
> (Oh, and I hope I didn't go too overboard and dramatic here)


	4. “Tony doesn’t really need to know about this conversation”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I would watch my tongue if I were you”, Thor said quietly, the hand that was holding Mjolnir tightening its grip around the handle, “remember; you’re talking about my brother”

The door closed with a faint click behind Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Steve and Thor. The doctor had pushed it shut and now all of them stood in front of Nick Fury’s desk, filling out almost the entirety of the crammed office and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally set down the file he’d been studying and looked at the assemble in front of him; the god of thunder, two world class assassins, Captain America and Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk.

“No Stark?”, he asked and leaned back against his chair, his black leather coat giving a faint squeaking sound as he did so.

“He doesn’t know we’re here”, Natasha crossed her arms in front of her chest, shifting her weight from left to right and blowing one red streak out of her face.

“Stark doesn’t know”, Fury repeated scoffing.

“He doesn’t really care right know”, Banner rectified. Tony Stark didn’t care about a whole lot of things besides trying to help Loki right now and they didn’t tell him that they’d talk to Fury either.

“Ah”

“I believe, you know why we’re here, man of Fury”, the Thor announced when the director didn’t say anything else; he stood to the left of the other avengers, almost right in front of the desk so Fury had to crane back his neck to look at him.

“When this organization was founded, no one’d have thought that our pride and joy, the avengers, would one day stand in front of me and demand me to let loose one of the most dangerous villains S.H.I.E.L.D.’s has ever managed to capture while Tony Stark’s holding said deranged villain’s hand.”

“I would watch my tongue if I were you”, Thor said quietly, the hand that was holding Mjolnir tightening its grip around the handle, “remember; you’re talking about my brother”

“Keep calm”, Bruce said quietly out of the corner of his mouth and Clint chuckled beside him until Natasha jabbed her elbow into his side.

“I’m really on a tight schedule right now; could we please do this later?”, the director asked slightly annoyed.

“Of course we can” Natasha’s voice was smooth as velvet, “just be reasonable and let Loki go now”

“I’m sure Stark’s already told you my answer to that and the reasons behind it”

“He did”, Clint nodded, “but that doesn’t mean anyone of us is buying that”

“My brother is no danger to anyone except maybe himself; there is no reason for you to keep him locked up”, Thor affirmed.

“I don’t really have to explain to you, that your opinion is not really anything to go by in this situation.”

“But you do have the video-feed of me and Tony freeing him of the Chitauris’ spell”, Dr. Banner pointed out.

“We all hear him scream about that in his sleep”, Clint shrugged.

He wasn’t really sure why he was actually speaking up for Loki, who’d hijacked his mind mere weeks ago, without anyone having to talk him into it for more than two minutes but no matter how he felt about the trickster personally, what was currently going on with him was no longer funny. And maybe, just maybe he was sick of Fury still behaving as if Loki had acted on his own accord when it was obvious – as well as proven – at this point, that he’d had just about as much a say in that as Clint himself had had when he too had been controlled. If he wasn’t responsible for assisting the god in trying to take over earth – as anyone had been telling him since he’d gotten rid of the spear’s influence – why should the person that had actually still managed to wreck the entire attack be held responsible?

If anything, the reason the Chitauri had almost managed to beat them had been S.H.I.E.L.D. not reacting fast enough and picking up the (in hindsight more than obvious) hints from Loki sooner; like him not taking Natasha seriously and blurting out crucial information about the attack or him travelling to actual Germany and almost imitate Red Skull when he knew that Cap would be on the team that had been sent to stop him. He didn’t speak this out loud; everyone in this room was clearly aware of the fact.

“None of that’s a guaranty and you know that”, Fury dismissed their arguments with a tired wave of his hand still. He’d had this conversation several times now, with Stark, Banner and Thor, but this here had been the first time, the avengers had ganged up on him like that, even Clint.

“You even have an assurance that he won’t hurt anyone”, Bruce insisted, referring to the gyve, “and you have proof that that’s going to work.”

“Most importantly”, Natasha intervened when the director once again looked like he wanted to interrupt, “and that’s the main reason we’re here; if you keep Loki here in this condition, without access to his powers and against his will, he _will_ eventually really turn on S.H.I.E.L.D. and come after us and you know that. You can’t keep doing this or there’ll be consequences”, she stressed the last words especially, “just imagine what would happen if Loki tried to wreck this world or this institution in earnest instead of sabotaging the mission. I doubt we’ll be able to take care of that as easily.”

When Fury didn’t say anything for several minutes, Thor added; “If I have learned anything during the last years, it’s that that’s exactly how Loki’ll react eventually - especially now, after everything he’s gone through. You should rather try to form a truce with him, maybe even an alliance, instead of toying with him like you’re trying now.”

“You can’t just try to control him by cutting him off his magic because that’s easier than actually dealing with him or because you don’t trust him”, Steve confirmed and Fury started massaging his temples where a slight headache was forming already.

“We’re not asking you to trust him; just do what’s right, Fury”, Bruce did not lower his gaze when Fury directed his glare at him directly, he didn’t back down. The director _was_ wrong – he quite certainly knew that himself but was too stubborn to change his mind and the way he was behaving only put all of them in danger in the long run.

“Anyway”, Clint didn’t really feel like staying in that room for much longer, especially not with the director glowering at them with his one eye, which for some reason was even more bewildering than a tow-eyed glare, “if you don’t let him go soon, we’ll come back to your office every day until you do, we’ll continue with our missions but those reports you and Coulson like so much will take a lot longer to be finished and we will remind you that what you’re doing is fucked up every time you leave this office… so it’s up to you, really”, he turned to leave before he added, “Tony doesn’t really need to know about this conversation”

With that, the five avengers left the room without waiting for an answer and Fury sunk back in his chair with a sigh, the palm of his hand covering his forehead and eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would feel bad to post this as a complete chapter after 7 days so... the next proper chapter will be published at the end of the week as usual, I hope you'll like it.


	5. “I don’t have to do anything”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I should let you know that it is worrying that you mock not only a powerful god”, Loki flexed his fingers a little, allowing his powers to simmer up and Tony snorted, “but also the one who’s currently tending to your wounds”

“You really”, Tony declared loudly as he plucked Loki’s fingers off his shoulders and arms, “really shouldn’t make a habit of- goddamnit Loki”, he finally managed to pin both of his wrists down, “come on, wake up”

Firmly planting his free hand on his shoulder, he carefully shook the god until his eyes finally snapped open and he automatically tried to push himself off of the bed against Tony’s hold.

“I got you, calm down”, he really was getting good at this.

“Should”, Loki showed him a weak grin, his chest still rising and falling abruptly and his voice still rather hoarse from crying out in his sleep but he was no longer trashing against the engineer who slowly let go of him and backed off a little, “Shouldn’t I be more worried about _that?”_

“Mhm…”, Tony hummed as he shoved the god’s legs away to have room at the foot of the queen sized bed he was occupying, touching the tips of his own fingers against his shoulder and neck as he leaned back against the wall behind him, “you gotta cut your nails”

“I don’t have to do anything”, gazing at him with raised eyebrows, Loki pushed himself up against the dark wooden headboard almost smoothly. He was still catching his breath when he crossed his legs but the words didn’t have the same sting to them as they would have if he talked to someone else, “come here then”

“I just got comfortable”, the engineer stretched his back and knocked his legs against Loki’s feet for emphasis.

“Fine then”, the god huffed, untangling his legs from underneath himself before he crawled over to Tony, stopping midway when his vision suddenly grew dizzy to support himself on his forearms and knees.

He was no longer dressed in the baggy, grayish sacks he’d been given by S.H.I.E.L.D. but in soft black pants that hugged his long legs and a dark green tunic – Tony had them specially made for him once he’d gotten better, along with several other pieces of clothing; it didn’t seem right for him to be wearing ugly, ill-fitting clothes that had been left by someone at the facility, not that he’d tell that to the god. His long black hair also was no longer an untamed mess; half matted to his head, half sticking out in every direction, but tumbled in smooth, thick, ebony waves down his neck and upper shoulders. I t wasn’t even slicked back like it had been when he’d first come to earth either and Tony found himself preferring that look.

“You should take it slow”, Tony suggested as he steadied the god and pulled him down next to him.

“And you should cease living on liquor, fast food and 4 hours of sleep a night”

“Cranky”, he commented, when Loki gently placed his hands on his shoulders and upper arms, “ow”, he just barely stopped himself from jerking back when the god dug his fingers more firmly into his shirt and skin for a second, “sorry”

“I should let you know that it _is_ worrying that you mock not only a powerful god”, Loki flexed his fingers a little, allowing his powers to simmer up and Tony snorted, “but also the one who’s currently tending to your wounds”

A soft, green beam spread from his fingertips to the engineer’s skin, leaving a warm, tingling feeling behind as the shallow scratches faded away into nothing. The god had closed his eyes while he’d been healing Tony, relishing the feeling of finally being able to use his powers again and now, as he was slowly opened them again, his pupils were slightly dilated as sometimes happened when he was concentrating on nothing else than his magic.

“You mean the person, who scratched me in the first place - not that I’m particularly against that”, the retort was barely past his lips when Tony bit his lip. He didn’t know what exactly he and Loki were, but one thing had been certain since the beginning of their…let’s call it friendship and that was, that they would not talk about the god’s night terrors and time with the Chitauri- at least not once he’d calmed down enough to form coherent sentences (and, on occasion, flirt with Tony) after waking up. Or the fact that Tony seemed to be the only one who managed to calm him down after a nightmare.

About a month had passed since Loki had first regained conscience and after the first three weeks during which Fury had questioned him about multiple times until he’d finally believed that he’d gotten every information there was to get from the god, and multiple failed attempts of Tony trying to talk the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. into allowing Loki to leave the hideout in favor for staying at the former Stark tower, Fury had finally conceded, provided that the god would keep wearing the gyve attached to his ankle and that he’d receive a report from Tony every evening. Despite the fact that the engineer was relieved Loki finally seemed to actually feel better since he’d come to live at the tower he was still furious at how long it had taken the director to finally relent, knowing full well that there had been no actual reason to keep the god confined to the hideout; he was, at least for now, cleared of most accuses. Thanks to the recordings of him being freed of the Chitauri’s control through Tony and Bruce, the fact that he not only screamed but also talked quiet frequently in his few hours of sleep and Thor was able to translate the chunks that weren’t English or any other Midgardian language and him losing control and breaking down during one of Fury’s less kind interrogations. It still had taken the support from the other avengers to finally persuade Fury and the main reason for that had probably still been the fact, that despite physically recovering, Loki still ended up screaming his lungs out once he’d fallen asleep and slowly but surely no one at the secret lab really felt like him staying there permanently was an acceptable solution anymore.

But now, as long as he agreed to a cuff that was attached to his ankle and to not kill or (badly) hurt somebody, Loki was allowed to stay at the former Stark-Tower in one of the guest rooms on Tony’s private floor, where he still was surveilled but more or less free to move. He was also still refusing to talk to his brother directly, or any other member of S.H.I.E.L.D. for that matter, but had ceased leaving the room one of them entered. Now, he just kept quiet and ignored them. Yet, he had somehow managed to pal up with JARVIS since he’d basically moved into the tower. Tony wasn’t quite sure, whether he should be glad that his own AI and …Loki, of all people, got along like they’d known each other for years.

“Well”, Loki pursed his lips but didn’t let go of the engineer, “you most certainly deserved it”, he shoot him a sharp-edged smile, brushing the pads of his thumbs above Tony’s collar bones while he gazed at him through long black lashes.

“And how’s that?”, mirroring the god’s grin, Tony cocked an eyebrow at him while he didn’t even try to pull away from him.

“First of all”, he started but Jarvis’ smooth voice interrupted the engineer by calling him to his workshop because a fire had broken out while he’d been with the god.

“Wanna come? You could watch me being set on fire by my own AIs.”

“I’d love to”, Loki particularly _beamed_ at him before pushing to his feet, almost able to stand completely sure-footed when his surroundings wavered slightly around him. Ever since he’d been able to stay conscious for more than 10 minutes at a time he’d been fascinated by any kind of technical device and had constantly nagged Tony about telling and teaching him more about Midgardian technology and since he’d proven to be a lot less of a hopeless case than his adoptive-brother the engineer had agreed.

Because he was a nice person, not because he reveled being more informed about a subject than Loki. And the fact, that he enjoyed being with someone, other than Bruce, who didn’t just wait for him to be done with his work and finish talking about it to change the topic to another one but actually was interested in– and fascinated by – what he was doing, was a welcome change, nothing more. Even if that had also been the main reason, he and Pepper hadn’t worked out; no matter how close they were, the constant risk of him getting injured or killed on one of his missions had proven to be too much for their relationship, so they had eventually resolved it back into the friendship they’d cultivated over years and years of working together. That had been several months ago.

“Careful”, he now couldn’t help himself but reached out for the god who shot him a look; “Don’t push it, Stark”, before he straightened himself and strode towards the door ahead of Tony. He didn’t look all too pissed at the engineer trying to aid him though.

“Uh, last names. You’re breaking my heart”, catching up to him, the engineer slung his arm around Loki’s waist and pulled him towards his lab. He didn’t mention the fact that it simply wasn’t fair because he didn’t know what last name to call him by without running the risk of suffering a most certainly sudden but nevertheless painful death but he did notice the almost smile that was gone from his face almost as soon it had appeared.


	6. “Well, we really can’t have that”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently trying to talk sense into the Hulk when he was completely out of control had not been one of his brightest ideas.

Tony Stark’s surroundings were spinning around him; his vision was blurry his ears ringing and his pulse was hammering in the very back of his throat.

Having been slipping in out of conscious for about fifteen minutes, he’d been feeling like he was about to throw up for almost the same amount of time - if he was not going to suffocate first that is – and the taste and feeling of blood pooling behind his clenched teeth wasn’t helping either; his suit was dented in in several places (which was supposed to be impossible) and he was pretty sure something was wrong with both of his legs.

Apparently trying to talk sense into the Hulk when he was completely out of control had not been one of his brightest ideas.

He was still trying to regain control over the parts of his body that weren’t his eyebrows or the very tips of his fingers when the air around him stirred and Loki reappeared next to him, dressed up in full green and black battle gear, hair blown back beneath his golden helmet and hands balled into fists at his sides.

 _“You_ ”, he snarled, magic still seeping through his fingers as green mist and his chest still rapidly rising and falling as he crouched down next to Tony, “you are the most reckless, irresponsible, foolish-“, he carefully loosened the hinges that kept the suit’s face-plate in place until he was able to remove the pieces and tossed them aside; they left dents on the concrete and walls they hit.

“Hey, hey, easy there”, Tony flinched when the god continued to rid him of the rest of his suit; first he removed the pieces that were supposed to shield his neck and head, until his face and upper shoulders were free, and then simply did away with the rest of it by laying his palm against the chest plate and muttering a mouth full of vowels so the ground ended up littered with red and golden pieces of metal, most of them, without a doubt, damaged and dented beyond repair.

“What were you even _thinking_?”, he demanded without acknowledging he’d heard what the engineer had said. His green eyes were bright with anger as he cradled his face in between the palms of his hands to have a look at the cuts and bruises the armor hadn’t been able to protect him from completely, carefully tilting his head to the side and brushing the tips of his thin fingers along a cut on his chin, collecting a bright red drop of blood on the tip of his index finger, “how can one man possibly be that fucking stupid?”

“Loki-”, Tony tried to keep the pain from repeatedly having been slammed into the concrete and buildings surrounding them by his favorite green beast until he’d passed out, out of his voice. The irony of the situation – of Loki fussing over him after he’d been attacked by the other guy – wasn’t lost on him but he’d be damned if he’d give that to the god.

He’d eventually first woken up to Loki – snarling and spitting – driving the Hulk off into the opposite direction before he’d vanished again for some time during which the other guy continued to tear down an entire ramshackle apartment complex. Thankfully he hadn’t gotten a hold on Tony before he and Cap had evacuated the nearby buildings.

The god had apparently somehow managed to take care of the Hulk because Tony had stopped being able to hear him smashing the nearby buildings and vehicles at some point and now, a couple of minutes later, he was back at his side. Thinking about it, the engineer wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to know, how exactly Loki had managed to take care of the Hulk and how he’d known where he and the others had been called to – the evacuation of the apartment block had been on short notice and not even Tony had broken his agreement to Fury, that he would not talk to the god about the team’s missions before they were finished and closed - and that Tony was in danger.

“Don’t you fucking patronize me, Stark. I fucking dare you”, the god now gritted out but Tony could feel a familiar warm rush spread from his temples down to his toes and suddenly he was able to breathe normally again and could feel his legs, then the god’s hands fell away from his skin, leaving a rather cold feeling behind. (He couldn’t quite decide whether just having been healed or having heard Loki curse made him feel better.) He also didn’t catch the way Loki hastily blinked a couple of times until he was sure that there were no tears left which would run the risk of running down his cheeks - he really didn’t need that right now.

“As long as I’ve got you to patch me up”, he shrugged, still kind of gingerly, gazing up at Loki but went still when he caught the look in his emerald green eyes. Without another word he placed his hand on Tony’s chest once more.

“What’re you-”, he started to ask but by the time he’d finished his question they were back at the tower, on the floor in the middle of Loki’s room.

“Taking you home of course”

“What the hell do you mean ‘of course’? I’ve gotta get back there and-“, Tony demanded, trying to get back to his feet.

“You”, Loki fumed in a dangerously low voice and with an icy glare as he firmly kept his hand in place and the engineer pinned to the floor, one long leg hooked over Tony’s, “have to listen to me for once and _take it easy_ ”

Despite everything the engineer knew about Loki, he still regularly forgot how impossibly strong the trickster – despite his physical appearance – actually was.

“You don’t understand, the others-“

“Are fine”, the god rolled his eyes but still didn’t let go of him, “I made sure – not that anyone’d care” He didn’t add that he also didn’t really care what happened to the rest of the avengers as long as Tony was safe and preferably with him.

“What are you talking about?”, Tony groaned, slumping back against the dark wooden floor boards as it was obvious that he wasn’t going to get anywhere any time soon; Loki was a lot stronger than he looked.

“Someone slipped your _colleague_ some kind of specifically modified drug so he’d turn on you and the others and try to kill you while you were evacuating those people. He started attacking you, you wouldn’t back off and he almost killed you, so I took care of it”, Loki started listing of, his eyes still had a slightly mad glint, “removed the substance from his system, made sure he and the others were okay and now we’re here - it’s really not that complicated.”

“ _You_ made sure they were okay”, Tony repeated, raising his eyebrows.

“And how could that possibly be a problem now? Was I supposed to just let you and your playmates tear each other apart?”, he still didn’t let go of the engineer completely but loosened his grip and shifted so their eyes were levelled as he glared at him.

“You never do what you’re supposed to do, Lokes”, Tony half-smiled as he dropped one brow.

“Perhaps that’s for the better. _I_ saved _you_ after all”, the god murmured allowing his hand to slip from Tony’s chest, who gingerly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“Perhaps that’s gonna get _you_ killed one of these days, with you playing the superhero and everything”, he pushed some of the god’s unruly pitch black curls behind his ear to have a clear look at him, letting his hand stay there. Both of them apparently ignorant to the fact that the god was basically sitting in Tony’s lap at this point. Except, they really weren’t ignorant to a single thing that was happening right now.

In fact, Loki felt like he was going crazy with all the sensations that assailed him, from the barely audible sounds of sirens wafting across from the streets up to the room to the warmth radiating from the engineer’s body or the callouses of his fingers against his pale skin and Tony wasn’t much better off either.

“ _Perhaps_ , it will, with me having to save _your_ ass and everything all the time”, Loki mused in a soft voice as he reduced his glare at the engineer to a mere gaze through his lashes with soft eyes; they were long, black wreaths that fanned out against his pale jowls, Tony noted dizzily, his mouth going dry as the god’s cool breath brushed against his cheeks. He could see his own reflection in the high polished gold of Loki’s helmet, but his eyes, deep emerald green and rimmed by dark lashes that stood out against his porcelain skin, where what he _couldn’t stop_ looking at.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to make sure, you’re gonna be okay then”, he all but shrugged, smoothing his thumb above the god’s cheek, whose lids fluttered shut for just a second.

“You could try”, Loki allowed Tony to draw him even closer still until their noses brushed together, “Since it apparently wouldn’t work out too well for you if something happened to me either”, he added, the corner of his mouth twitching up to an almost smile, before he tilted his head slightly, just barely brushing his lips against Tony’s.

“Well, if you put it like that”, Tony threaded his fingers further through the god’s charcoal streaks, the tips of his fingers resting against the nape of his neck, and finally closed the gap between them completely, pressing his lips against Loki’s, “this is totally legitimate”, he told the god who proceeded to bring up his hands to either side of Tony’s face, tenderly stroking the rough skin with the tips of his fingers as they kissed.

“That’s good then”, he sighed against Tony’s lips, who carefully pushed him down onto his back, one arm snaked around the small of his back, his other hand still cupping the back of his head, “that’s really, really good”, he whispered when the engineer kissed along his jaw and down his neck – he doubted, that he’d be able to reach a lot more than his producing collarbones underneath his impossibly complicated armor but he’d work on that problem when he had to.

“ _Sir_ ”, JARVIS spoke up just when he did reach his collarbones, the god’s slender fingers fisted into his short streaks and his chest rising and falling with silent gasps when the engineer smoothed the hand that wasn’t playing with Loki’s surprisingly soft hair down the god’s side and came to a hold at his hip, fingertips digging into the pale flesh beneath the layers of black and green leather. The trickster’s hipbone gently bumped against the palm of his hand as he tentatively moved against the engineer.

“For fuck’s sake JARVIS”, Tony let his head fall forward so it came to a rest against Loki’s shoulder who was still catching his breath.

“ _I am sorry but Nick Fury demands to speak to you, Sir_ ”

“Of course he does”, Tony sighed, gazing into the god’s eyes who frowned back at him, “where is he?”

“ _He is going to be here in approximately ten minutes_ ”

“Maybe he’s worried about you”, Loki suggested whilst lifting Tony’s head back up and kissing his the top of his head before he carefully pushed against his chest so the engineer would get to his feet.

“Yeah, right”, the engineer snorted, attempting to readjust his clothes and smooth down his hair – he just hoped his lips weren’t too puffy and would give him away - before he stretched his hand out for the god, “c’mere, baby"

“Uh-huh”, Loki raised his eyebrows at the pet name - and Tony, who actually went slightly red - before he took his hand and let himself be pulled to his feet, slinging both arms around the engineer’s neck as soon as he was up.

Later, lying in bed with Loki curled into his side, his head on his chest right next to the arc reactor and one of his impossibly long legs pushed between his own, Tony would wonder why it didn’t really surprise him that the god of mischief was that affectionate all of a sudden and why he himself didn’t really mind, “should I come with you to talk to him?”, he breathed against the engineer’s lips.

“Oh, don’t bother; he’s just gonna be pissed at me for not managing to take care of Banner on my own, then about me running off with you…”, he shrugged, wrapping his arms around the god’s hips – because now, he was allowed to do that, wasn’t he? And the Loki wasn’t pushing him away either, so he pulled him close and let one hand slide further down his back, “I’d much rather stay here with you if I think about it”

“Would you now?”, the corner of the god’s mouth quirked upwards a little, “that’s very sweet of you”

“Yeah, you could call it ’sweet’”, Tony chaffed him with a smug grin, “of course-“, he continued but was cut off by actual Nick Fury’s voice booming through the address system, demanding to see him or else he’d break every single door of the tower down until he’d come across him.

“Well, we really can’t have that”, Loki reluctantly let go of the engineer and gave him a soft push towards to door, “I’ll wait here. Try to make it quick”

“Believe me”, Tony turned on the threshold, “ ** _I_** can’t wait to get back to you and-”

“STARK!”

“Coming!”, he grimaced before he pushed the door shut behind him, still able to hear the god snicker in his room as he hurried towards the elevator.

 

\--------------

 

“How did it go?”, Loki had draped himself over the gray armchair he’d pushed in between two large windows, his legs thrown over its left arm, bare ankles crossed and his back leaned against the right one. A thick leather-bound book was resting against his upper thighs and a number of similar volumes were stacked beside the chair on the floor. Next to a small table that held more books still, as well as a teacup and teapot.

He had also gotten rid of his helmet and returned it to its usual place on the windowsill and had changed from his black and green Asgardian leathers into black leggings and a tight fitting also black long sleeve that was laced at both sides and exposed a long, pale neck and the small little marks Tony had left behind earlier. He found himself enjoying the sight quiet a lot.

“As expected”, the engineer shrugged as he closed the door behind him and sauntered over to the god.

“Well, that’s enlightening”, he rolled his eyes at Tony but carefully closed his book, placed it back on the side table and looked up at him.

“You seriously wanna hear the entire thing?”

“Not necessarily”, Loki smiled softly when the engineer bent down and kissed his lips, “I just want to know whether you’re alright”

“…you actually _are_ really cute; has anyone told that to you?”, Tony squeezed himself into the chair next to him, running his hand up his flat stomach and chest.

“No one’s ever been stupid enough to try”, Loki glowered at him but the twitch of the corner of his mouth gave him away and the fact that he reached out to cup his face with the palm of his hand and pulled him down for another kiss also didn’t really do much to make him seem menacing. If Tony and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D had learned anything during the last three months, it was that the real Loki could scare the living hell out of you if he wanted to but otherwise he probably was the most placid, soft spoken, albeit sarcastic, person at the lab and tower, especially since he (very) slowly was warming up to some of the avengers. Maybe he’d even start talking to Thor again one of these days, at least Tony hoped so; a little bit of human contact – or contact to his adoptive brother – would probably be good for the god but he would definitely not try talking him into anything.

“So, you’re okay?”, Loki eventually pulled back from him but rested his forehead against the engineer’s, wrapping his right arm around him so he wouldn’t end up slipping off the chair.

“Believe me, out of everything and everyone that could really get to me, Nick Fury is the least of my problems”

“Okay”, the god nodded, brushing Tony’s hair back, “but if he ever tries something, he’s gonna regret it”

“I’ll remember that”, he said with a laugh, trying to sit back up.

“Stay here”

“I tell you something”, Tony used his free hand on the cushion to hold himself up above the god, “you let me get up before my spine snaps completely, I shower and put on something that doesn’t have bloodstains or holes in it and we order dinner from that Thai-place you like? What do you think?”, after this day, Tony didn’t really feel like going out, especially since ordering the entire menu and eating with Loki in front of one of the terribly artsy black and white movies the god had apparently fallen in love with during his time on earth whilst watching him eat approximately his own body weight in Thai-food sounded like a lot more fun than a fancy restaurant and the weirded out glances from other costumers.

“Throw in dessert and we have a deal”

Of course. If Tony let him, Loki would have them live on nothing but dessert.

“Alright then”

Loki did eventually let go of Tony and watched him get up but stayed in his seat and stretched his back while the engineer made his way back to the door – after he’d thoroughly drunk in the sight of the small stripe of exposed, milk white skin, that had appeared in between his shirt and pants.

“Hey, Loki”, he stopped with his hand on the door handle.

“Yes?”

“Thanks for earlier”, he pushed door open before he turned back to the god and winked, “by the way”,

Loki tilted his head to the side and showed the engineer a genuine smile, “no problem”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope, you enjoyed this, thank you for reading and commenting (and having me try to come up with proper solutions for some conflicts I hadn't put much thought into originally).
> 
> By the way; there's probably going to be a sequel at some point, if you'd like that.
> 
> Lots of love and thank you again!

**Author's Note:**

> This is set directly after "The Avengers"
> 
> Thank you for reading, comments would be lovely.


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